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Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) ● Born July 5, 1755 at the Shoulder of Mutton inn in Early Life Brecon to actors Roger Kemble and Sarah Ward ● Eldest of twelve children, several who became actors ○ Brother John Phillip Kemble would become “the most important actor and manager of his time” (OD) ● Educated at Mrs Harris's School for Young Ladies at Thornloe House in Worcester ● Met William Siddons ○ Her parents opposed their marriage and encouraged the courtship of a local squire ○ Sent her away to live as a maid to the Greatheed ● Married William November 26, 1773 ○ First son was born October of 1774 ● Performed for her father’s company, Ariel in The Tempest in 1766 The World of ○ Became obsessed with the stage despite parental opposition Acting ● Began performing on smaller country circuits after marriage ○ Impossible hours, meager pay, ever-growing family, supplied her own costumes ● Was engaged by Garrick in Drury Lane in 1776 after the birth of her daughter, to underwhelming effect ● Returned to smaller circuits, where she became the favorite of socialites and fashionable society ○ Performed Desdamona opposite John Kemble’s Othello in Liverpool in 1778 ● Returned to Drury Lane six years after her initial failure, 1782, to great success ● Early on forges a connection between her public identity and her Public Image motherhood ○ “Three Reasons” speech 1982 “Her figure, though in majesty and sublimity inferior to that of Mrs. Yates, is the most interesting and engaging ● Overshadowed her husband, her brother, and often her ever seen on any stage. Her face is at once beautiful co-performers and expressive, while the turn of her neck, and the hair of her head, are as graceful and elegant as the finest ● The Tragic Muse productions of the pencil of Raphael. Her voice, if not ○ Favoured performances of tortured, emotional, and powerful, is soft, clear, and melodious, and in the tender, tremulous tone, peculiarly sweet and plaintive. waifish women Her transitions are natural, and strongly marked; her pauses extremely judicious, and, with the propriety of ○ Specific sense of melancholy impossible to replicate her emphasis, plainly evince a thorough conception of her author's meaning. Her action is, in general, perfectly adapted, and her attitudes expressive, elegant, and well-chosen. In a word, Mrs. Siddons is infinitely the most natural and affecting Actress on the English stage. She charms the ear, touches the heart, and satisfies the judgment.” -New London Magazine, 1780 ● Even as her success on the stage was at its peak, her Public Success, marriage was suffering ○ William was notoriously bad with money Personal Tragedy ○ There were public accusations of affairs ○ Led to an eventual separation ● Death of children ● 1812, Charles Lamb, an English Essayist and Sarah Siddons as Shakespearean critic writes “we speak of Lady Macbeth, Lady Macbeth while we are in reality thinking of Mrs S.” ● Innovated upon the infamous sleepwalking scene ○ Against her director’s advice, she altered key-staging that had been established by another well-known actress, Mrs. Pritchard ● Burden, Michael. "A Short Article on a Lively Subject: Geltruda Rossi, Sarah Siddons, and Shakespeare’s Lady Works Cited Macbeth à laFuseli." Dance Research Journal, vol. 49 Paintings: no. 1, 2017, pp. 55-69. Project MUSE, ● Caldwall, James. “National Portrait Gallery.” National Portrait Gallery, muse.jhu.edu/article/657310. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw20563 ● Mackenzie, Kathleen. The Great Sarah: the Life of Mrs. 9/Mrs-Siddons-and-her-Son-in-the-Tragedy-of-Isabella-Sarah Siddons. Evans Bros., 1968. -Siddons-ne-Kemble-Henry-Siddons?LinkID=mp04109&role ● “Memoirs of Mrs. Siddons. .” The New London =sit&rNo=11. Magazine, 1780, pp. 616–617. Eighteenth Century ● Harlow, George Henry. British Library, The Garrick Club, Journals, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/Portrait-of-Sarah-Siddons- as-Lady-Macbeth-by-George-Henry-Harlow-1814. http://www.18thcjournals.amdigital.co.uk.proxy-remote.g ● Lawrence, Thomas. Tate, alib.uga.edu/Documents/Images/TheNewLondonMagazi https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lawrence-mrs-siddons-n ne17881792volume5/415#. 00188. ● Shaughnessy, Robert. "Siddons [née Kemble], Sarah ● Reynolds, Joshua. Dulwich Picture Gallery, (1755–1831), actress." Oxford Dictionary of National https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/explore-the-collecti on/301-350/mrs-siddons-as-the-tragic-muse/. Biography. May 24, 2008. Oxford University Press. Date ● Thornthwaite, John. of access 21 Aug. 2019, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/co <https://www-oxforddnb-com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.ed llection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3441786&partId=1&pe u/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb ople=107518&peoA=107518-1-6&page=1. -9780198614128-e-25516>.
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